Lion Hunt '92

I ended my full summers as director in '85 but began visiting - usually for one- or two-week stints at first - in 1987 or so. In '92 I spent all of session 2 at FV and here I am leading a Lion Hunt in the dining hall. It would seem that the Tacoma girls at the first table were less than enraptured. Photo by Meg Hanna, and thanks for Katie Kelly for pointing this out to me. If you are not a Facebook user, this link won't work for you, but if you are, it should take you to all of Meg's 1992 pics.

1992

Here, at right, is the first page of the 1992 summer staff list. Click on the image for a larger view. How many names do you recognize?

toothless roosterman returns

Last night marked the return of an evening program called "The Ichabod Craine Revue," a story night featuring an anthology of three stories by noted FV story-tellers. Most of the Hird villages (older kids) and a little more than half of the CITs were in attendance, sitting in the upstairs of Geyer Hall waiting for spun yarns to delight and astonish them - give them something to talk about later into the night.

First up was Gail Morris, who started here in '92 and is this summer on the administrative team as, among other things, the coordinator of our Newark Partnership Program. Gail casually but mysteriously told the story of strange happenings up on Banks Hill over the years.

Next up was Jeff Daly, celebrating (have I noted this yet?) 20 years since he first came to Frost Valley in 1988 as a Sequoia camper. He's now one of the two overall directors of camping and--as those who know him already know--a person of unmatched summer camp instincts: timing, staff talent, the balance of enthusiasm and sternness, etc. Jeff told a new and truer version of a legend that had (he tells me) come up through the ranks and years starting in (I think) Hemlock in the 90s. The figure in this myth is the Toothless Roosterman, a scary figure who at the same time is utterly ridiculous.

Jeff told "The Legend of the Toothless Roosterman," and the campers and staff loved it. I made a recording of this. Tonight, when you get home from work, build a fire in your Manhattan apartment or Mississippi condo or Seattle suburban house, get out the marshmellows and sticks, and put on this story. Camp again.

Here's your link to Jeff's story: LINK

Oh, yes, I told the third story last night - the story of J. C. Pony (Forest counselor in the 1960s) and the mysterious "Haunted House" overnight camp site. The key lines are: "Does Forest have the spirit?" (to which you answer: Yeah man!) and "Does Frost Valley have the spirit?" (Yeah man!)

origins of "Silence" & "Ultimate Sicko Ball"

D'Arcy John Oaks (kneeling with backpack in photo), a Frost Valley lifer and one of the staff stars of the 1990s, paid an eventful four-hour visit to the valley in early July, during the current summer's session 1. An old buddy of Jeff Daly and Bob Eddings, who together now run summer camp, D'Arcy was hooked up with Hemlock & Sacky '07 and introduced to them as one of the creators of their favorite combined cheer, now called "Silence." Here is D'Arcy's description of his visit, starting with his guest appearance at "Silence":

The kids from Hemlock and Sacky asked me to do the "Silence" cheer (which we used to call "Knights and Maidens") with them. That was pretty awesome. Back in like '91 there was a massive "cheer war" in the Hird, especially between Lenape and Hemlock. "Knights and Maidens" was written to combine the shouting strength of Sacky and Hemlock (80 kids) to over-power Lenape (40 kids). Jeff helped write that cheer with me and a bunch of Hemlock/Sacky counselors (Ellie Gordon, Malik Jenkins, Cybil Ryan, Ed Zimmerman, Sam McTieran, and others) right before Session 1 started in that summer (either '91 or '92). I was proud to see that the Hird kids still play "Ultimate Sicko Ball," which is this crazy 4-team capture the flag game they play on Big Tree Field. In something like 1990 or 1991 Josh Tucker, John Turer, and I decided the Hird needed a game that every Hird camper could play at the same time, thus the beginning of "Ultimate Sicko Ball." It involves four teams, a lot of balls that are the flags, tagging, jails, no-mans-land, hoola-hoops, throwing, kicking, catching. Its really great. [Editor's note: here's a photo taken of the four teams all set up in the Big Tree Field just prior to one such USB game.] I can't believe they still play that game. I was wearing my classic early '70's FV half-sleeve jersey and, like you've been writing in your blog, old FV shirts are noticed and desired by both staff and campers. Jeff introduced me to the Hird campers over the PA right before hoopla and all the kids cheered my return to FV...I felt like a rock-star.

And then, still D'Arcy talking about his visit, there's this, almost inevitable strong feelings of gratitude:

Of course right before Jeff and I said good bye we had that teary-eyed conversation of how important Frost Valley was to our becoming the fine adults that we are now (ha!)... that FV helped us develop courage to challenge ourselves, champion the underdog, take responsibility for ourselves and others, be proactive, have the courage to hold an individual opinion different from others, be able to take charge and lead a group of people, resolve conflicts, be thankful for the little things, act local and think global...many of our personal characteristics which we are most proud can be traced to some extent to being young people at Frost Valley. We acknowledged to each other that we owed Frost Valley, big time.

Now here's D'Arcy John Oaks' FV profile:

1990 - Hemlock JC
1991 - Hemlock counselor
1992 - Hemlock counselor
1993 - PAC counselor
1995 - Lenape VC
1996 - Hemlock VC
1997 - CIT Coordinator
1998 - Recovery Camp/Discovery Camp Director

The photo above was taken in 1995 and shows director Peter Swain and Lenape VC D'Arcy Oaks explaining some camp rule or another to a Lenape camper.